Parametric design and performance evaluation of a novel solar assisted thermionic generator and thermoelectric device hybrid system

A novel solar driven hybrid system composed of a concentrated solar collector, thermionic generator and thermoelectric device is proposed. Thermoelectric device uses the waste heat of the thermionic generator to generate further power and cooling. Analytical explanations for the power output and efficiency of the thermionic generator, thermoelectric device and hybrid system are investigated. In order to investigate the design parameters affecting proposed hybrid system performance such as solar irradiance density, anode work function, heat conductivity, ratio of resistances and cooled space temperature sensitivity analysis is discussed. Two different scenarios are considered: the former is assumed the values of climatic data constant and impractical but the latter considers the values of climatic data practically for the data of five different cities in Asia. The results show that since the proposed hybrid system performance depends on the TIG, the increase in ratio of resistances does not have a significant effect on the efficiency and power of the process. The highest and lowest average useful power produced by a solar collector is related to Riyadh and Inchon, respectively. The best optical performance is related to Riyadh (average daily optical efficiency = 67.5%). (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.